FOREVER MINE(19)

Kyle stared at the man for a moment, his lips twitching at his obvious perplexity.

He decided not to tell him it hadn’t been that difficult to realize the advantages in marrying Kimara Stafford if he had to marry anyone; she wouldn’t be after his money, since she had plenty of her own; she was well-bred and socially acceptable; marrying her would guarantee him complete control of Garwood Industries; and the idea of sharing a bed with her held a certain appeal. There was no way he would disclose those reasons to Mason.

“Let’s just say I’ve had a change of heart. My grandfather was right. It’s about time I settled down and produced some little Garwoods.”

Mason looked at Kyle suspiciously, not easily fooled by his congenial manner and blithe acceptance of the situation. He had worked with Kyle’s grandfather long enough to know that when the Garwoods were faced with something that couldn’t be avoided, they had the uncanny ability to turn it to their advantage. It would be interesting to see what the younger man’s game plan was.

He didn’t have time to dwell on the thought any further, because at that precise moment his secretary’s voice came across the intercom on his desk.

“Mr. Long, Miss Stafford is here.”

“Please send her in, Mrs. Franklin.” Mason stood and straightened his tie. Kyle, he noticed, had moved away from the door and stood across the room near the window.

The door opened and Kimara Stafford walked in. As far as Kyle was concerned, every other object in the room faded to oblivion the moment she entered. Her presence demanded his complete attention. She’s everything dreams are made of, he thought, feasting his eyes on the woman who had haunted his thoughts ever since seeing her two days earlier. Her tailored linen business suit was a far cry from the skimpy outfit she’d been wearing. She strode into the office with the silky grace of an African queen and carried with her the scent of sweet magnolias.

His mind had drummed out Mason’s greeting to Kimara until he noticed her surprised eyes on him. As he’d requested, she had not been told he would be there. He watched as her expression turned to one of displeasure.

“I believe the two of you know each other.” Mason’s words brought their attention to him.

Kyle came from the spot on the other side of the room to stand in front of her.

“Yes. It’s good seeing you again.”

Kimara ignored Kyle’s words and turned to Mason. “What’s he doing here? What’s this about?”

Mason cleared his throat. “I really don’t know, but I’m sure Kyle will enlighten us, since he’s the one who requested this meeting. Please have a seat, dear.”

Kimara took the chair Mason offered and tried not to let her gaze take in the man standing not far away. His profile spoke of power and strength. His handsome face held some secret expression, and his lips were parted in a dazzling display of straight white teeth that framed a buttery smile. “What’s this about, Kyle?”

Kyle took the seat across from hers. For several moments he only stared at her, not believing the transformation that took place over the years.

“I asked what this is about, Kyle,” Kimara repeated.

Kyle noticed out of the corner of his eye that Mason had taken his seat and was undoubtedly waiting for his answer too. “I think it should be obvious why I asked you here, Kimara. I want to marry you.”

At that moment Kyle expected a lot of things, but he hadn’t counted on the clipped but dignified laugh that escaped her lips. “Was that supposed to be a proposal?”she asked, amused.

Kyle sat back in his chair, not seeing anything funny. “Yes.”

A trace of a smile touched the corner of her lips.

“In that case my answer is no. How dare you assume I’ll marry you.” Her eyes then smoldered with resentment. “Mason, would you mind leaving us alone for a few minutes?”

“Not at all,” the older man replied, quickly getting out of his chair. From his way of thinking, he didn’t need to witness any disturbance that would make his ulcer flare up again, and he had a feeling if he stuck around, these two young people would cause just that. He hurriedly left the room.

Kimara stood and began pacing the room. Kyle remained seated, stretching his legs far out in front of him as he watched her.

“Why didn’t you return my calls, Kimara?”

She stopped her pacing and turned to him. “I had nothing to say to you.”

“I was calling to apologize.”

Kimara raised a surprised brow.

“I want to apologize for frightening you that day,” he said. “But I still think you should be more careful about keeping your gate locked.”

Although she knew he was right, at the moment Kimara wasn’t in a mood to agree with him. “I know why you arranged this meeting, Kyle, to discuss your grandfather’s will. I want you to know up front that I have no intention of going through with what he wants.” She leaned against Mason’s desk, bracing her rear end on its edge.

Kyle was suddenly plagued with memories of that same rear end bouncing around while she was doing aerobics. That had been a breathtaking sight. “And I think we should go through with it.”

Kimara gazed at him, anger reflecting in her eyes. “Why? So you can retain the Garwood millions?”

“No. So we can give my grandfather what he wanted most.” Kyle knew his statement had hit home when he saw her reaction to it.

Kimara’s eye narrowed at Kyle. “When did you begin caring about giving your grandfather what he wanted? Poppa Garwood loved you and wanted to spend more time with you, but all you ever found time for besides the business was your numerous women.”

“I made a mistake,” Kyle said truthfully. He regretted not spending more time with his grandfather. He’d spent the last two nights at the Garwood estate finally realizing just how much he missed the old man’s presence. At one time the two of them had been close. Things had changed after his parents’ death, and to this day he never understood why.

“A mistake? To my way of thinking, you’ve made several of them,” Kimara shot back.

Her words cut into Kyle. “Now, you wait just a minute. What gives you the right to judge me or my actions? I gave my grandfather plenty of chances. I bent over backward several times to make amends, but he just wouldn’t bend. I got tired of trying.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have. He needed you, Kyle. Your grandfather took our parents’ death extremely hard. It was bad enough losing his own son, but then to lose my father, who was like a second son to him too. Just think what he’d been going through all these years. Do you know he blamed himself for the accident?”

Kyle was taken aback by her statement. “Why would he blame himself for that?”

“Because he was the one who talked them into chartering that small plane to fly to the retreat instead of taking a commercial flight.”

“How do you know all of this?”

Kimara took a deep breath. “Because he eventually told me. I was there to listen when you weren’t.”

Kyle stood and slowly walked over to the window. “He could have told me what he was feeling. Why did he have to shut me out? He could have told me, and I would have understood.”

Kimara looked everywhere but at Kyle. His pain was reaching out to her. She had urged Poppa Garwood numerous times to talk to Kyle about his misplaced guilt. But he felt that doing so would drive an even deeper wedge between him and his grandson.

“Yes, he could have talked to you. I even encouraged him to. But he chose not to tell you about the guilt he was carrying around. He didn’t mean to shut you out of his life; he just didn’t want to risk losing you too. He was a very proud man, Kyle, but he was also a good one. When I returned home after completing college, he gave me the strength to make a lot of decisions that needed to be made.”

“And from what I understand, you also helped him. I thought the cigarettes and cigars would do him in long ago.”

Kimara smiled. “I convinced him to stop smoking.”

Kyle turned away from the window and came to stand before Kimara “I bet that hadn’t been easy?”

Kim shrugged. “It was well worth the effort. He was the grandfather I never had. He was there so many times when I needed someone. I loved him and will miss him.”

Kyle sighed deeply. “Even with all of our differences, I loved him too. He was the only family I had. I never wanted to disappoint him.” With the words he’d just spoken, Kyle suddenly realized at that moment that he would do anything and everything to fulfill his grandfather’s last wish-- even marry. He owed him that much, and more.

There were no longer any ulterior motives for him wanting to do so. He wouldn’t do it for any advantages to himself, he would do it because he knew more than anything how much his grandfather wanted the Garwood line to continue. And unless he married and had a child, it would come to an end with him. “So, what do you want to do about the conditions of his will?”

“Nothing.”

Kyle raised a brow. “Shouldn’t we at least discuss them?” he asked.

“For what reason? I have no intentions of marrying you.”

“I think you should at least think about it. When I first heard what Granddad wanted us to do, I was furious. He knew how I felt about ever getting married.